Don’t Run from the SF Police or They’ll shoot You in the Back

16:43
June 15, 2018

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SAN-FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – June 15, 2018

The San Francisco Police Department issued a statement with video footage from body-worn camera and security footage of what happened and the tense moments that followed, when a cop shot a fleeing suspect in the back during a foot chase on a crowded street. Outraged witnesses surrounded the officer in the aftermath shouting at him “What did you do! F— you!” while recording him with their cell phones.

Soon after the incident the department released a brief statement that said the shooting happened just after 12:15 a.m. on the 1300 block of Grant Avenue, between Vallejo and Green streets in San Francisco. Officials said the officers “rendered aid and requested medical assistance,” and recovered a gun from the scene. The officers were uninjured. The shooting details were announced during a town hall meeting Thursday.

28-year-old Oliver Barcenas, who was shot, and remains hospitalized in Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, while the investigation is still ongoing. Hospital officials said they cannot reveal information about Barcenas’ condition.

“Those videos do not look good,” District Three Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who represents North Beach, said after police played the videos at the meeting. “I did not see the part where he takes the jacket off. I did not see the part where anyone is swinging around with a gun.”

Continue reading and you will see he clearly dropped the gun before he was shot.

“They were drinking from an open container, and all of a sudden the police come and everything falls apart,” said Joanne Keaney, who attended the meeting. “What does it mean that he had to shoot him to stop him when he didn’t even know what was going on?”

“I’m very concerned about the shooting,” said 62-year-old North Beach resident Theresa Flandrich. “I would have hoped there would have been some awareness that there are other people here. It’s just shocking to me to see this.”

From this video footage you can see how scared passersbys are. A man hugged two very scared girls. They left the scene soon after in totally distress.

Revelers filled the area after the Golden State Warriors’ NBA title win Friday night. The streets were extremely crowded, anyone could have been struck. The cop’s actions prompted people to question whether the officer was too eager to shoot.

The San Francisco Police Department’s General Order on use of force states that officers may use deadly force only “as a last resort when reasonable alternatives have been exhausted or are not feasible to protect the safety of the public and police officers. The use of firearms and other deadly force is the most serious decision an officer may ever make. When safe and feasible under the totality of circumstances, officers shall consider other objectively reasonable force options before discharging a firearm or using other deadly force.”

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Barcenas was shot by San Francisco police before in a 2012 incident in the Mission District. In that case, he was accused of pulling a Tec-9 assault pistol on current Assistant Chief Toney Chaplin, who at the time worked on the Gang Task Force.

He currently works in a San Francisco flower store. His colleague, Natalie April, 24, said she was upset by what she saw in the videos Thursday.

“As far as co-workers go, everyone is completely in shock,” she said. “I think you can tell from the video he was scared, and I don’t feel safe being around the streets with officers shooting people. I think it’s beyond disappointing. I’m floored.”

Right now Barcenas was arrested on suspicion of delaying an officer, carrying a concealed firearm, exhibiting a firearm and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Stop the video above on 1:12, you can see that Barcenas dropped a black object. We believe it’s the gun the police officer said was pointed at him. We believe that he tired to ditch his firearm and later knife.

You can see that Barcenas was really nervous from the very first encounter, he knew he had a gun and a knife so he backed off behind his friends. He couldn’t have forgotten what happened to him in 2012, when he was shot twice. Watch the video once more, at 1:40 he starts to run and it takes 8 seconds for the officer to “reach the last resort” and shoot him in the back several times (we hear three rounds, but police claimed it was two), while risking the lives of uninvolved people.

You can hear how agitated the officer was immediately after the shooting, it was clearly a highly-stressful situation for him. At 2:01 you can see Barcenas knife besides him, it is likely he tried to throw him away.

What’s about the gun?

This firearm was located at the scene. It’s a sub-compact semi-auto pistol Glock Model 30, 45 caliber equipped with a laser sight and ‘big stick’ magazine for twenty six rounds.

According to the statement, Independent Investigations Bureau of the District Attorney’s Office and the Department of Police Accountability are conducting independent investigations. SFPD’s homicide unit is conducting the criminal investigation and SFPD’s Internal Affairs unit is conducting the administrative investigation.